Indian Shares Rebound After Recent Losses

5/10/2012 12:49 AM ET

Indian shares rebounded on Thursday after falling sharply in 3 out of the previous 4 sessions. The rupee also recovered from a record low of 53.84 hit yesterday, as the Reserve Bank of India imposed limits on open positions at five times the net overnight limit for rupee trading and tightened norms for utilization of the foreign currency fixed deposit funds in an attempt to check further weakening of the currency.

Meanwhile, other Asian markets rebounded from session lows buoyed by news that Greece will receive its latest debt bailout payment.

The benchmark 30-share Sensex is currently at 16,624, up 145 points or 0.88 percent from its previous close, while the broader Nifty index is up about 50 points or a percent at 5,024.

Reliance Industries is up 1.2 percent as the firm raised $2 billion in debt from a consortium of nine German banks to finance its petrochemical plant expansion at Jamnagar, Hazira, Silvassa and Dahej.

Lupin, NTPC and Cipla are rising 1-2 percent ahead of their quarterly results due later in the day. State-run oil explorer ONGC is adding a percent on reports that it is mulling foraying into city gas distribution business and sale of imported liquefied natural gas business.

GTL Infrastructure is climbing 6.7 percent after Indian Overseas Bank acquired 9 percent stake in the company via conversion of convertible debentures. Shares of group firm GTL are rallying 9.5 percent.

State-run companies MMTC and STC are gaining over 2 percent each ahead of a cabinet meet today to consider divestment proposals.

Indian shares fell for a second consecutive session on Wednesday, with benchmark indexes Sensex and the broader Nifty losing around half a percent each to reach their 16-week lows, as soft global cues on concerns over political uncertainty in Greece, the rupee's slide on fears over foreign fund outflow and news that the RBI sees little room for lowering interest rates further cut appetite for risk.

On Wall Street, stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday despite staging a fairly strong comeback from the day's lows in light of the continued uncertainty in Europe. The Dow ended down 0.8 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 shed 0.7 percent.